Church to commemorate ties to former Hazel Dell school

ELLWOOD CITY — The Free Methodist Church of Ellwood City and the former Hazel Dell Old Brick School share a historical link.

To commemorate that bond, a special ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. Sept. 21 on the church lawn at 412 Glen Ave.

A plinth (a stone used as a base) and a plaque will be placed to commemorate the school. It had been across the street from the back of the church.

The idea originated in December, when Holt Conner presented the Ellwood City Area Historical Society with the stone base of one of the front porch posts from the Hazel Dell Old Brick School. His father, Ralph Conner, rescued the stone when the building was torn down. For many years, his mother, Marion, used it to stand on so she could pin her washed clothes to a clothesline in their yard.

In 1850, nearly a half-century before Ellwood City was founded, Adam Shoemaker built the Old Brick School. The bricks were made by hand, one at a time, by Shoemaker, one of the pioneer residents of the area, who owned a brickyard.

Before 1892, when Ellwood was officially a borough, both sides of the creek were known as Hazel Dell. Pupils from the north side of the creek used a shortcut leading directly up the hill from the original wooden, covered bridge to the school. The schoolhouse was on Glen Avenue and occupied the plots at 406 and 410, where William F. Kegel and Ralph Conner later built their homes.

The Free Methodist Church and the school shared a time in history. The church was organized at a tent meeting in 1895, just at the time the Hazel Dell Old Brick School closed. The congregation met without a full-time pastor until 1899, when George Mitchell was sent to them. During Mitchell’s time, a wooden church and parsonage were built at 412 Glen Ave. on land the congregation bought for $50. In 1913-14, the new brick church was built and is still in use.

Tom Cooper, a member of the church, has served as the liaison between his church and the Ellwood City Area Historical Society to place the plaque commemorating the Hazel Dell school on the lawn of the Free Methodist Church.

Cooper, who particularly likes history, has been collecting the history of his church and is excited to have the church lawn used to commemorate the school. He feels both are tied together in Ellwood City history.

While Cooper and his wife, Virginia, were cleaning some rooms at the Free Methodist Church, they found an old ledger book. The ledger, showing its age and wear, chronicled the first meeting of the Free Methodist Church class at the home of “Brother Schrines.” The date was Oct. 15,1897.

The Coopers, who live in New Beaver, have been married for 57 years, and are still active in their church.

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